1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a solar cell module including a solar cell having a protective film formed therein and a method of manufacturing the solar cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Solar cell directly converts clean and unlimitedly supplied sunlight into electricity. Thus, the solar cell is expected as a new energy source.
Generally, the output of a single solar cell is about several watts. For this reason, in order to use such a solar cell as a power source for a house, a building, or the like, a solar cell module in which a plurality of solar cells are connected to each other to increase the output is used. The plurality of solar cells is electrically connected to each other by wiring members. Each of the plurality of solar cells includes: a photoelectric conversion part configured to generate photogenerated carriers; a plurality of thin line-shaped electrodes configured to collect carriers; and a connecting electrode to which the wiring member is connected. The plurality of thin line-shaped electrodes and the connecting electrode are formed on the photoelectric conversion part.
In order to improve the weather resistance as well as the scratch and mar resistance of the solar cell, it is known that a resin layer is formed on the photoelectric conversion part so as to cover the plurality of thin line-shaped electrodes (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-34592). Such a resin layer is formed in a way that a resin material is applied onto the photoelectric conversion part by using, for example, an offset printing method. Specifically, a blanket provided with the resin material is pressed against the photoelectric conversion part so as to transfer the resin material onto the photoelectric conversion part. The blanket is formed in the shape of a cylinder, and a cylindrical surface of the blanket is made of an elastic member such as a silicon rubber.
Here, a cylindrical surface of the blanket is pressed against the plurality of thin line-shaped electrodes formed on the photoelectric conversion part, and thus groove-like depressions corresponding to the plurality of thin line-shaped electrodes are formed in the cylindrical surface of the blanket. For this reason, when the blanket is pressed against the photoelectric conversion part, an extra resin material having entered the groove-like depression is extruded by each of the plurality of thin line-shaped electrodes, and thereby applied onto the connecting electrode. As a result, there has been a problem that adhesiveness between the connecting electrode and the wiring member is reduced.
To deal with such a problem, it is conceivable that the resin layer may be formed to be sufficiently spaced apart from the connecting electrode. In this case, however, the weather resistance and the scratch and mar resistance of the solar cell is reduced.